


Black Coffee and Eucalyptus

by manbun_zukka



Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Coming Out, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:47:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25312540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/manbun_zukka/pseuds/manbun_zukka
Summary: Simon Snow is not a secretive person.He simply isn’t.He’s got his best friend, Penny, who he tells everything, and then there’s Agatha, his ex-girlfriend who moved to California but who he’s still on good terms with, and other than them, he’s got no one to tell anything. No other friends, no family, nothing.It’s not like he’s going to tell his chemistry partner his deepest, darkest secrets.And the Baz came along.
Relationships: Penelope Bunce & Simon Snow, Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch/Simon Snow
Comments: 14
Kudos: 87
Collections: Carry_On_Summer_Exchange_2020





	Black Coffee and Eucalyptus

**Author's Note:**

  * For [angelsfalling16](https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelsfalling16/gifts).



> Alright my dudes! This is probabaly going to be the only fic I post in this famdon, but I love it so much! It's really quite short and sweet, but I hope you like it nonetheless!
> 
> xx,  
> CJ

Simon Snow is not a secretive person.

He simply isn’t.

He’s got his best friend, Penny, who he tells everything, and then there’s Agatha, his ex-girlfriend who moved to California but who he’s still on good terms with, and other than them, he’s got no one to tell anything. No other friends, no family, nothing.

It’s not like he’s going to tell his chemistry partner his deepest, darkest secrets.

And then Baz came along.

Baz used to be the quiet, quirky boy who sat in the back of Simon’s Anatomy of Mythology class, with tan skin and shoulder-length black hair. He used to be the guy who always had a pen tucked into his bun, who carried a thermos full of coffee with him everywhere, who had fewer friends than Simon, but still managed to catch the attention of every girl on campus. He used to mean nothing to Simon.

Now, he’s Simon’s everything.

Now, he’s the only secret Simon has ever kept.

  
  


~~~❦~~~ 

  
  


When Simon was a newborn, he was put in the system by a father who never wanted him.

Then, when he was eleven, that very same father showed up at the home that Simon was in, and brought him to boarding school, where he stayed until he was eighteen.

His father never told Simon that he was his son.

He simply told him that he was special, smarter than the average kid. He rested too much on Simon’s shoulders. By the time Simon was in Sixth Form, it was too much for him.

His father wanted him to join the army.

Simon just wanted to go to university.

So he did.

He and Penny ran away to London on the day of graduation, got themselves a flat, and enrolled into University. Simon hasn’t looked back since, but he still remembers sometimes.

Not always on purpose.

  
  


~~~❦~~~ 

  
  


“Simon, are you cheating on me?”

“I’m sorry, what?” he emerges from the living room to see Penny leaning against the counter, staring accusingly at him from across the room. Next to her, his phone is laying atop the kitchen table, firing off with text notifications.

“Are you friendship-cheating on me?” she asks again. “Who the hell is texting you non-stop?”

“Um… Aaron Burr, Sir?”

“Don’t you dare quote Hamilton at me, you heathen!” She insists, cutting her eyes at Simon. “Really, you’ve been so  _ weird  _ these past few months, what the hell is going on?!”

In a split second, Simon is lunging across the counter, grabbing his phone and hightailing it out of the kitchen. Penelope barrels after him and into the living room of their flat, almost tripping over Simon’s backpack.

He runs all the way through their flat and opens the door, but as he runs through it, he goes straight into something.

Or rather, someone.

“Bloody hell.” Simon curses, taking a step back and looking at his boyfriend. “It’s all about timing, Baz.”

“Simon, you’ve known since Tuesday that I was coming over today.” he sighs. “And I’ve been texting you nonstop for about twenty minutes.”

“Aha!” Penelope yells from the entry hallway, where she’s splayed comfortably on the ground, having tripped over one of their many throw pillows. “It was  _ you _ !” she declares. Then, she turns to Simon. “Who is he?”   
  


Simon takes a deep breath, a plan forming in his head. “Baz, begone.” he says, waving his boyfriend off. Quieter, he adds, “I’ll be downstairs in twenty minutes.”

Once Baz is gone, walking down the hallway shaking his head, Penny turns to Simon. “Who the hell was that? Really, Simon!”

“Just- c’mere.” he mutters, grabbing her arm and dragging her back into the flat. He hauls her through the living room and into the kitchen, out the window, and onto the fire escape. 

“Simon.” she admonishes him. “What in the entirety of this entire world just happened? I know for a  _ fact  _ that that person was  _ not  _ Agatha, unless she has secret shapeshifting powers or something.”

“Here’s the thing-” Simon tries. No, not that. “You know how-” Nope. “So, funny story.” Nuhuh. “Turns out I’m gayer than I previously thought.” Really? “Um, surprise?”

“You fool.” Penny sighs, pulling him into a hug. “So that was your boyfriend.” she says, always one step ahead of the game. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know.” he murmured, pulling away from her embrace. “It seemed easier not to, at the time. Y’know that theory, better to ask for forgiveness than permission? It was kinda like that.”

They stared out at the view from their window, a snapshot of London at golden hour, the sun reflecting off of tall glass skyscrapers and onto centuries-old historical buildings. “Don’t you have a date to get to?” Penny asks after a while, startling Simon out of his revere.

“Oh, shit, I do.” he curses, hastily climbing back in through the kitchen window. He grabs his keys and phone from where they were haphazardly thrown onto the couch, and books it out the door, yelling at Penny on the way out, “I’ll be back in a few hours!”

He practically sprints down the stairs, taking them two at a time as he rushes to meet Baz in the lobby. He’s in such a rush, in fact, that he runs straight into Baz for the second time that day, except that now, instead of backing away, Simon realizes what he’s done and practically  _ melts  _ into Baz, wrapping his arms around his waist.

“I’m sorry about that mess.” he mumbles into Baz’s chest. Baz only chuckles, slipping his phone into his pocket and wrapping his arms around Simon as an answer.

“It’s fine, love.” he whispers. “I get it.”

Simon smiles slightly, closing his eyes and breathing in his boyfriend’s familiar scent; a mixture of black coffee, eucalyptus, sandalwood, new books, and something that’s so unimaginably  _ Baz  _ that Simon just can’t put his finger on.

“Let’s go, shall we?” Baz asks, pulling back from the embrace and grabbing Simon’s hand.

“Yeah,” Simon says, “let’s get out of here.”

  
  


~~~❦~~~ 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this, and if you did, feel free to leave a comment and kudos and tell me what you think!
> 
> xx,  
> CJ


End file.
